DescriptionA conversation with writer, inventor, and futurist Ray Kurzweil, the founder, chairman and CEO of Kurzweil Technologies. Topics include: expanding human intelligence with machines; human pattern recognition; inventing machines to help people with sensory disabilities; and artificial intelligence. During this program, Kurzweil responds to viewer calls and e-mail. Ray Kurzweil is the author of several books on the subject of artificial intelligence, including The Age of Intelligent Machines, The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence, and his latest, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology . His companies have made major breakthroughs in print, sound, and speech recognition technologies. As a result of his work, he was awarded the 1999 National Medal of Technology by President Clinton.
DescriptionIn the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles, micro-robots, has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive. It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour. As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton's most compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. Drawing on up-to-the-minute scientific fact, Prey takes us into the emerging realms of nanotechnology and artificial distributed intelligence, in a story of breathtaking suspense.
DescriptionKip has a secret. A young boy who lives with his uncle at the Starswarm Station research outpost on planet Paradise, he has heard a voice in his head for as long as he can remember. The voice guides him in all his decisions, helping him through situations with useful information and helpful insight. One day, finally daring to ask the voice some tough questions, Kip discovers that his computer scientist parents implanted an artificial intelligence chip in his skull, which connects with a powerful mainframe computer via satellite. He also learns that his parents died under suspicious circumstances and that his very existence is a well-kept secret that will soon come to light - putting his own life and the whole of outpost Starswarm in grave danger.
DescriptionRichard K. Morgan has received widespread praise for his astounding 25th-century novels featuring Takeshi Kovacs, and has established a growing legion of fans. Mixing classic noir sensibilities with a searing futuristic vision of an age when death is near…
DescriptionJeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of inte…
